Hi Sam,
You're on the right track. Yes, it is possible, but it involves some work.
I think I should write a tutorial about this because a lot of questions
about linking have been coming up in the newsgroups.
There are several ways to accomplish your goal. I'll only describe one way.
Pretend you have an existing Excel workbook called MySource.xls and you want
to have it linked to an existing Word document called MyTarget.doc.
Open MySource.xls in Excel.
Open MyTarget.doc in Word.
In Word MyTarget.doc from the menu choose Insert > Object > Microsoft Excel
Workbook
This will open a new empty workbook in Excel and bring Excel to the front.
In Excel, switch to the already open MySource.xls in Excel. Select the range
of cells you wish to have linked in Word. Then copy the range of cells.
Switch back to the Excel workbook called "Worksheet in MyTarget.doc" then
use Edit > Paste Special and click the Paste Link button.
Then from Excel's menu choose File > Close and return to MyTarget.doc or
just use Apple+W from the keyboard.
Save the word document (apple+S)
There you have it - a Word document with an embedded Excel workbook that's
linked to an Excel file.
Before I attempt the update automatically part of your request, let's walk
through the steps you need to manually update the link.
First, there needs to be a change in the source document if we're to notice
any change in the target. Open MySource.xls and change the value of one of
the cells. Then save MySource.xls and close it.
To update the link in Word, open MyTarget.doc then double-click the embedded
Excel worksheet. Excel will open. In Excel choose Edit > Links then click
the Update Now button. The workbook will update with the new data.
Then close the workbook (apple+W or Edit > Close and return to
MyTarget.doc).
To automate this process you'll need to make a fancy macro. You'll need to
activate the embedded object in Word, then get Excel to update the link, and
then close document in Excel and get back to Word.
Off the top of my head I can't come up with an appropriate code example, so
I will refer you to Google:
<
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=vba+Word+OLE+obje
ct+activate&btnG=Search>
Maybe someone will have a code sample handy and post it here.
-Jim
--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP
MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info
